Lens adjusting mechanism

ABSTRACT

A lens adjusting mechanism includes a light-valve case, a lens case, one fastener, and a leaf spring assembly. The light-valve case has an emitting opening and a first opening edge, disposed on the peripheral portion of the emitting opening. The lens case has a light-path entrance and a light-path exit. The lens case also has a second opening edge. The second opening edge is disposed on the peripheral portion of the light-path entrance. The fastener is connected between the first opening edge and the second opening edge. The leaf spring assembly has at least one leaf contact. The leaf spring assembly is disposed between the first opening edge and the second opening edge. The leaf contact contacts the first opening edge or the second opening edge. The fastener is used to adjust the distance between the first opening edge and the second opening edge.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a lens adjusting mechanism, especiallya projecting lens adjusting mechanism.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A lens module is usually a set of lenses consisting of one or moreoptical glass lenses, including concave lens, convex lens andcombinations thereof. A lens module can be used in a camera, videocamera, microscope, telescope, projector, and/or other 3C products.

The lens module is a tool for transferring the image light and imagingthe image. In the field of optics, the lens module has an optical axis,and under an ideal condition, image beam is corresponding and matchedwith the optical axis after assembled.

However, when a lens module is assembled to a device, image beam isusually unable to be matched with the optical axis due to tolerantspecifications of production and assembling of different elements. Usinga projector as an example, the tolerances can result in disproportionaldistortion of image on a screen, and therefore result in resolution andquality decreases.

Thus, there is a need of a lens adjusting mechanism to solve the abovedefects.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention provides a lens adjustingmechanism, which includes a light-valve case, a lens case, at least onefastener and a leaf spring assembly. The light-valve has a lightemitting opening and a first opening edge, wherein the first openingedge adjacent to the light emitting opening. The lens case has alight-path entrance, a light-path exit and a second opening edge,wherein the second opening edge adjacent to the light-path entrance. Atleast one fastener is to connect the first opening edge and the secondopening edge. And the leaf spring assembly has at least one leaf contactdisposed between the first opening edge and the second opening edge tomake the at least one leaf spring assembly contacts against the firstopening edge or the second opening edge. Wherein the at least onefastener can adjust a distance between the first opening edge and thesecond opening edge.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a lens adjustingmechanism, which includes a lens carrier, a thin elastic element and atleast one combiner. The lens carrier has a first light-path throughhole, a second light-path through hole and a through-hole edge, whereinthe through-hole edge adjacent to the first light-path through hole. Thethin elastic element has at least an elastic hook, attached to thethrough-hole edge. The at least one combiner is to combine thethrough-hole edge and the thin elastic element, wherein the at least onecombiner can adjust a distance between the thin elastic element and thethrough-hole edge.

Therefore, embodiments of the present invention provides a lensadjusting mechanism, which can compensate manufacturing tolerances ofparts and assembling tolerances during the assembling process and makethe image beam matched with the optical axis or being parallel to theoptical axis of light valve by the design of the leaf spring assembly,the thin elastic element, the plate spring or the elastic element. Andthus, quality of an image on the screen can be improved.

The present invention will become more readily apparent to thoseordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detaileddescription and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an explosion drawing of a lens adjusting mechanism accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an assembly drawing of the lens adjusting mechanism as shownin FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an explosion drawing of a lens adjusting mechanism accordingto another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of a plate spring according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of another plate spring according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4C is a schematic diagram of another plate spring according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5A is an explosion drawing of a projecting lens adjusting mechanismaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5B is an explosion diagram of the elastic element as shown in FIG.5A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments of the present invention are related to a lens adjustingmechanism. Please refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. FIG. 1 is anexplosion drawing of a lens adjusting mechanism 10 according to anembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an assembly drawing ofthe lens adjusting mechanism 10 as shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is anexplosion drawing of a lens adjusting mechanism 10 according to anotherembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the lensadjusting mechanism 10 includes a light-valve case 20, a light valve 28,a lens case 22, a plurality of fasteners 24, and a leaf spring assembly26, wherein the lens case 22, the plurality of fasteners 24 and the leafspring assembly 26 respectively correspond to a lens carrier 32, aplurality of combiners 34, and a thin elastic element 36 in FIG. 3.

The light valve 28 is assembled on the light-valve case 20 to emit imagebeam. The light-valve case 20 has a light emitting opening 2002 to allowthe image beam emitted out from the light-valve case 20. The light-valvecase 20 has a first opening edge 2004 adjacent to the light emittingopening 2002.

The lens case 22 or the lens carrier 32 is used to hold a lens module 27having an optical axis (not shown in figures), wherein the lens module27 includes one or more lens. The lens case 22 has a light-path entrance2202 and a light-path exit 2204; and the lens carrier 32 has a firstlight-path through hole 3202 and a second light-path through hole 3204.The image beam sequentially passes through the light-path entrance2202/the first light-path through hole 3202, the lens case 22/the lenscarrier 32, and the light-path exit 2204/the second light-path throughhole.

The lens case 22 further includes a second opening edge 2206 adjacent tothe light-path entrance 2202. Wherein the light-valve case 20 as shownin FIG. 1 is assembled to the lens case 22 via the first opening edge2004 and the second opening edge 2206. The plurality of fasteners 24 isto connect the first opening edge 2004 with the second opening edge2206. The fasteners 24 can be fastened by thread locking, but theinvention is not limited herein.

Four leaf contacts 2602 is disposed on four sides of the leaf springassembly 26, and a plurality of holes are disposed closely adjacent tothe leaf contacts 2602 for the fasteners 24 to pass through. The leafspring assembly 26 is disposed between the first opening edge 2004 andthe second opening edge 2206 to make the leaf contacts 2602 contactagainst the first opening edge 2004 or the second opening edge 2206. Asshown in FIG. 1, the leaf contacts 2602 are adjacent to thecorresponding locations of the fasteners 24 and elastically contactagainst the first opening edge 2004. As shown in FIG. 3, four elastichooks 3602 are disposed on four sides of the thin elastic element 36,and a plurality of holes are disposed adjacent to the elastic hook 3602for the combiners 34 to pass through. The elastic hooks 3602 areadjacent to the corresponding locations of the combiners 34 andelastically contact against a through-hole edge 3206. As shown in FIG.3, the plurality of combiners 34 is to assemble the thin elastic element36 and the through-hole edge 3206. The combiners 34 can be fastened bythread locking, but the invention is not limited herein.

Therefore, a distance between the first opening edge 2004 and the secondopening edge 2206, or a distance between the thin elastic element 36 andthe through-hole edge 3206, can be controlled by adjusting the fasteners24 or the combiners 34 and so as to adjust the optical axis of lensmodule 27 (not shown in figures) to match image beam or parallel to anoptical axis of the light valve (not shown in figures); and thus,desired display effect and optimal resolution can be acquired. Accordingto an actual projected image, locking tightness of the fasteners 24 orthe combiners 34 can be adjusted during manufacturing process to fiximage distortion. The adjustment can also compensate manufacturingtolerances of parts and assembling tolerances during the assemblingprocess to make the projected image on the screen has desired displaycondition.

The leaf spring assembly 26 as shown in FIG. 1 and the thin elasticelement 36 as shown in FIG. 3 can be replaced by different plate springs46 as shown in FIGS. 4A-4C. As shown in FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, and FIG. 4C,the plate spring 46 includes a substrate 4602 and a plurality of contactparts 4604. The substrate 4602 has a through hole 4606 h, and thecontact parts 4604 extend from the substrate 4602 and dispersedly andcircularly adjacent to the through hole 4606 h. When the lens adjustingmechanism 10 is assembled, the through hole 4606 h is corresponding to(or completely overlapped with) a first opening. Moreover, the platespring 46 further includes stress dispersion holes 4608 h, which everyof the stress dispersion holes 4608 h is disposed adjacent to a locationof one of the contact part 4604 connecting with the substrate 4602 inorder to disperse stress to avoid breakage of the contact part 4604 onthe connecting area with the substrate 4602 by long-term deformation.

FIG. 4A shows the plate spring 46 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention for illustration. The plate spring 46 includes fourcontact parts 4604. Four fasteners (not shown in the figure) are locatedcorresponding to four locations of the plate spring 46, wherein the fourlocations have through holes formed thereon for the fasteners to passthrough; and it is suggested to make one of the four fasteners being asa fixed point 54. The fixed point 54 is which the one fastener is fixedat the beginning of assembling process without further adjustmentthereafter. And a location of one of the rest three fasteners, which isadjacent to (or close to) the fixed point 54, is as an auxiliary point52. The auxiliary point 52 is adjusted to certain tightness at first,and is further adjusted only when adjusting points 50 are unable toachieve desired effects. As in the FIG. 4A, the other two adjacentlocations of the four fasteners are defined as adjusting points 50.Generally, the optical axis (not shown) can be adjusted by the twofasteners at the adjusting points 50 to make the optical axis matchingwith image beam or parallel to the optical axis of light valve (notshown) in order to acquire desired displaying effects and optimalresolution.

FIG. 4B shows the plate spring 46 according to another embodiment of thepresent invention for illustration. The plate spring 46 includes fourcontact parts 4604. Four fasteners are located corresponding to fourlocations of the plate spring 46. The only difference from FIG. 4A isthat one of the locations does not have a through hole formed thereonbut a gap, and one of the four fasteners is fixed on the location wherethe gap is. The location with the gap is as the fixed point 54 to fix,but not to adjust, the plate spring 46 in-between the first opening edge2004 and the second opening edge 2206. The other three locations can beall adjusting points 50; or one of them can be an auxiliary point 52 andthe other two adjacent to each other can be adjusting points 50.

FIG. 4C shows the plate spring 46 according to another embodiment of thepresent invention for illustration. There are only three fastenerscorresponding to three locations of the plate spring 46. The platespring 46 includes at least three contact parts 4604, and optical axiscan be adjusted by two adjacent fasteners of the three.

As shown in FIG. 4C, the plate spring 46 have four contact parts 4604.The plate spring 46 is correspondingly a rectangle, and two of the threefasteners are positioned corresponding to two adjacent corners of theplate spring 46, and the other fastener is positioned corresponding to amiddle region of the substrate 4602 away from the two adjacent cornersof the plate spring 46. And there are two contact parts 4604 disposed onthe plate spring 46 symmetrically with respect to the fastener at themiddle region of the substrate 4602.

In the embodiment, the location of the fastener at the middle region canbe the auxiliary point 52, and the other two locations of the fastenersat the two corners of the substrate 4602 can be adjusting points 50 forquick adjustment for desired optical axis.

The above embodiments further have following characteristics. Thesubstrate 4602 and the contact parts 4604 can be a one-piece structure,or/and the contact parts 4604 can be fixed on the substrate 4602 bythread locking or other conventional method; and moreover, the pluralityof fasteners of the lens adjusting mechanism 10 has the same lockingdirection from the same side of the plate spring 46 to the other side inorder to assemble a first edge and the second edge. The fastener can bea screw, a bolt or a clip; and material of the plate spring 46 can bestainless steel with a material number of SUS301 and a length of one ofthe contact parts 4604 is better longer than 8 centimeter (cm).

Please refer to FIGS. 5A and 5B. FIG. 5A is an explosion diagram of aprojecting lens adjusting mechanism 60 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. FIG. 5B is an explosion diagram of an elastic element76 as shown in FIG. 5A. The projecting lens adjusting mechanism 60includes a light-valve case 70, a projecting lens case 72, at least onefastener 74 and at least one elastic element 76, wherein the light-valvecase 70, the projecting lens case 72 and the fastener 74 respectivelycorrespond to the light-valve case 20, the lens case 22 and the fastener24 as shown in FIG. 1.

A light valve 78, a light emitting opening 7002, the first edge 7004,the second edge 7206, a lens module 77, a first opening 7202, and asecond opening 7204 respectively correspond to the light valve 28, thelight emitting opening 2002, the first opening edge 2004, the secondopening edge 2206, the lens module 27, the light-path entrance 2202 andthe light-path exit 2204 as shown in FIG. 1; and details are notdescribed in the following illustration for the sake of brevity. Asshown in FIG. 5B, the elastic element 76 includes a spring abutment7602, a spring 7604, and a spring head 7606; wherein one end of thespring 7604 contacts against the spring abutment 7602, and the other endof the spring 7604 contacts against the spring head 7606. The springabutment 7602 is fixed on one of the first edge 7004 and the second edge7206. The spring head 7606 contacts against the other of the firstperipheral region 7004 and the second peripheral region 7206. The figureshows an example that grooves are disposed respectively on the foursides of the first edge 7004 to immobilize the spring abutments 7602,and the spring head 7606 contacts against the second edge 7206.

Wherein, a distance between the first edge 7004 and the second edge 7206can be controlled by adjusting a degree of locking tightness of thefasteners 74 so as to adjust the optical axis (not shown in figures) inorder to match with image beam or be parallel to the optical axis of thelight valve (not shown in figures); and thus, desired display effect andoptimal resolution can be acquired.

In addition, every spring abutment 7602 of every of the plurality of theelastic elements 76 can have the same direction toward the spring head7606. The fastener 74 can be a screw, a bolt or a clip.

Therefore, the embodiment of the present invention provides a lensadjusting mechanism 10, which can compensate manufacturing tolerances ofparts and assembling tolerances during the assembling process and makethe image beam matched with the optical axis or being parallel to theoptical axis of light valve by the design of the leaf spring assembly26, the thin elastic element 36, the plate spring 46 or the elasticelement 76. And thus, quality of an image on the screen can be improved.

While the invention has been described in terms of what is presentlyconsidered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is tobe understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosedembodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover variousmodifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similarstructures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A lens adjusting mechanism, comprising: alight-valve case, having a light emitting opening and a first openingedge adjacent to the light emitting opening; a lens case, having alight-path entrance, a light-path exit and a second opening edgeadjacent to the light-path entrance; at least one fastener to connectthe first opening edge and the second opening edge; and a leaf springassembly, having at least one leaf contact disposed between the firstopening edge and the second opening edge, the leaf spring assemblycontacting against the first opening edge or the second opening edge,wherein the fastener is capable of adjusting a distance between thefirst opening edge and the second opening edge.
 2. The lens adjustingmechanism according to claim 1, wherein the leaf spring assembly is aplate spring.
 3. The lens adjusting mechanism according to claim 2,wherein the plate spring comprises a substrate and a plurality ofcontact parts, the substrate has a through hole, and the contact partsare disposed adjacent to the through hole.
 4. The lens adjustingmechanism according to claim 3, wherein the plate spring comprises astress dispersion hole disposed adjacent to a location of one of thecontact parts connecting with the substrate.
 5. The lens adjustingmechanism according to claim 3, wherein the distance is adjusted by twoadjacent fasteners.
 6. The lens adjusting mechanism according to claim3, wherein one of the at least one fastener is to fix but not to adjustthe distance.
 7. The lens adjusting mechanism according to claim 6,wherein the substrate includes a gap, and the gap is corresponding tothe one of the at least one fastener.
 8. The lens adjusting mechanismaccording to claim 3, wherein the at least one fastener includes threefasteners disposed corresponding to three contact parts of the platespring.
 9. The lens adjusting mechanism according to claim 3, whereinthe plate spring comprises four contact parts, the at least one fastenerincludes three fasteners, two of the three fasteners are positionedcorresponding to two adjacent corners of the plate spring, the otherfastener is positioned corresponding to a middle region of the substrateaway from the two adjacent corners of the plate spring, and two of thecontact parts are disposed symmetrically with respect to the fastener atthe middle region of the substrate on the plate spring.
 10. The lensadjusting mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the lens adjustingmechanism satisfies one of the following: (1) the substrate and thecontact parts are a one-piece structure; (2) the contact parts are fixedon the substrate by thread locking; (3) the at least one fastener hasonly one assembling direction from one side of the plate spring to anopposite side of the plate spring; (4) the fastener is a screw, a boltor a clip; (5) material of the plate spring is SUS301 stainless steel;and (6) a length of one of the contact parts is longer than 8centimeter.
 11. A lens adjusting mechanism, comprising: a lens carrier,having a first light-path through hole, a second light-path throughhole, and a through-hole edge adjacent to the first light-path throughhole; a thin elastic element, having at least one elastic hook attachedto the through-hole edge; and at least one combiner to combine thethrough-hole edge and the thin elastic element, wherein the combiner iscapable of adjusting a distance between the thin elastic element and thethrough-hole edge.
 12. The lens adjusting mechanism according to claim11, wherein the combiner is a fastener, and the thin elastic element isa plate spring.
 13. The lens adjusting mechanism according to claim 12,wherein the plate spring comprises a substrate and a plurality ofcontact parts, the substrate has a through hole, and the contact partsare disposed adjacent to the through hole.
 14. The lens adjustingmechanism according to claim 12, wherein the plate spring comprises astress dispersion hole disposed adjacent to a location of one of thecontact parts connecting with the substrate.
 15. The lens adjustingmechanism according to claim 12, wherein the distance is adjusted by twoadjacent fasteners.
 16. The lens adjusting mechanism according to claim12, wherein one of the at least one fastener is to fix but not to adjustthe distance.
 17. The lens adjusting mechanism according to claim 12,wherein the at least one fastener includes three fasteners disposedcorresponding to three contact parts of the plate spring.
 18. The lensadjusting mechanism according to claim 12, wherein the plate springcomprises four contact parts, the at least one fastener includes threefasteners, two of the three fasteners are positioned corresponding totwo adjacent corners of the plate spring, the other fastener ispositioned corresponding to a middle region of the substrate away fromthe two adjacent corners of the plate spring, and two of the contactparts are disposed symmetrically with respect to the fastener at themiddle region of the substrate on the plate spring.
 19. The lensadjusting mechanism according to claim 12, wherein the lens adjustingmechanism satisfies one of the following: (1) the substrate and thecontact parts are a one-piece structure; (2) the contact parts is fixedon the substrate by thread locking; (3) the at least one fastener hasonly one assembling direction from one side of the plate spring to anopposite side of the plate spring; (4) the fastener is a screw, a boltor a clip; (5) material of the plate spring is SUS301 stainless steel;and (6) a length of one of the contact parts is longer than 8centimeter.
 20. A lens adjusting mechanism, comprising: a light-valvecase, having a light emitting opening and a first edge adjacent to thelight emitting opening; a projecting lens case, having a first opening,a second opening, and a second edge adjacent to the first opening; atleast one fastener to connect the first edge and the second edge; and anelastic element, comprising a spring abutment, a spring, and a springhead, an end of the spring contacts against the spring abutment, theother end of the spring contacts against the spring head, the springabutment is fixed on one of the first edge and the second edge, and thespring head contacts against the other of the first edge and the secondedge, wherein the fastener is to adjust a distance between the firstedge and the second edge, the lens adjusting mechanism further comprisesa light-valve and a lens module, the light valve is disposed on thelight-valve case, the projecting lens case is to hold the lens module,the spring abutment of every of the at least one elastic element has thesame direction toward the spring head, and the fastener is a screw, abolt or a clip.